Fred Plays Lego Rock Band on DS

Since Lego Rock Band doesn’t need any attachments like the Guitar Hero sleeve, I can finally play a music game on my DSi. It’s not the fluid motion of Guitar Hero On Tour, but Lego Rock Band is a solid portable version of the complete band experience.

Console Review: Lego Rock Band

The buttons are not that bad. Two on the left and two on the right make it easy to hold and remember which button is which color. It kind of makes it more like the original Simon game which I’ve always thought the rhythm games were anyway. The toughest adjustment is that you have to press the buttons each time. You can’t just hold, because there’s no strum. Fast strums and chord switches can be a new kind of tough in this format too. It seems forgiving of early taps though.

Lego Rock Band captures the full band experience for a single player. You can try different instruments in the middle of a song. They’re all the same thing, four notes and button pressing (even for vocals), but you can change up the patterns. You can see the tracks to the left and right and avoid tough parts, or court them for more points.

The actual Lego aspect of the game is best for its recovery system. The purple bonus bricks are a good tool for bridging the four instruments, since it gives you some time to switch tracks before it starts counting again.

The songs are great. “Ghostbusters” is hard with the finger combinations required for guitar and drums. “The Final Countdown” has a lot of guitar and drum beats, but no Lego Gob doing magic. “Let’s Dance” has some hammers to try on the bass part, and “We Will Rock You” gives parts to even the silent instruments, like guitar and voice tracks when there are none in the song. “Song 2” is different than the Guitar Hero 5 version, suiting the style of the handheld game more.

There are songs where you may get three of the four parts and have one that just sticks with you. That’s what’ll make you keep playing obsessively until you can 100% it.